Te Kuiti's Dr Keith Buswell wins 2018 Peter Snow Memorial Award

Dr Keith Buswell.

Long-serving Te Kuiti GP Dr Keith Buswell is the recipient of the 2018 Peter Snow Memorial Award — announced at the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network's annual conference in Auckland on Saturday.

Keith has been a rural GP in Te Kuiti for more than 30 years.

He was nominated for his 'Innovation and Service to rural health'.

His citation read: "Keith has always been willing to support rural health research and has participated in studies on prostate cancer, a survey of mental health, diabetes and heart studies.

Overall he has proved an innovator, a leader and a teacher whose contribution to his community, to the Waikato and nationally has been immense – and yet has been hidden due to his self-effacing nature and natural tendency to put others first.

"Through Keith's leadership general practice in Te Kuiti is now held up as a model of integrated, community engaged rural general practice."

Keith said the award was a "bolt out of the blue".

"I feel honoured to be included in the group of rural general practitioners who have received this award before me.

"I'd like to acknowledge the role of my wife, GP Elly Kroef.

"We used to job share in the early days until the last of our children went to school.

"There were also a number of other GPs in town, including John Earwaker and Mike Miskelly, and we teamed up to form a group practice.

"I'm delighted to have been able to form what is seen as innovative and a combination of primary and secondary care in a rural town.

"It's also been satisfying seeing GPs able to work at a higher level, at hospital practice level and with the clinical decision-making required at that level.

"It's a reflection of what all rural GPs do every day, except in our situation it's a little more formalised."

Keith says the variety of medicine is the essence of rural general practice and it offers the opportunity to go on learning and to add to your skills.

"It also offers the opportunity to become closely involved in the community you work in, which is very rewarding in itself.

"I see rural general practice as a viable thing in the future and more challenging than its urban counterpart which I believe has a narrower scope of practice. "